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Main Quest
In Bards, Beards and Birds Emmon, bard and hero, tries to stop the vicious tycoon Mister B. and the evil queen Alice, from organising a performance of the legendary Dragon Ballad by the Ensemble of the Princes. The legendary piece of music may absolutely not be played by anyone, for it is said it would trigger the return of the dragons to Mindolum. During his quest Emmon's skills as a bard will improve as he is on his way to become the Master of Sound. Summary of the Main Story In Mindolum preparations for the Festival of the Singing Dragon are well under way. For this extraordinary occasion Alice Wrengrove, the queen, wants to put together a special ensemble of Mindolum's best musicians, that will perform the Dragon Ballad during the festivities. After Emmon, the hero, fails as a bard at the royal court, he is angrily summoned by king Archimedes to search the musicians for the queen's the ensemble. This is not an easy task, as the capricious musicians of Mindolum are sometimes very hard to find. As Emmon accomplishes more and more tasks, he regains the king's trust. When Percy, the eldest son of the king, disappears, panic breaks out at the royal court. Archimedes secretly requests Emmon to investigate the matter. Emmon finds out that the mysterious kidnappers are also after Eckhardt, the king's other son. In a rush the hero departs for Fun Haven Island, where the prince reportedly is hanging out. On Fun Haven Island our hero discovers that theme park tycoon Mister B., is plotting the forthcoming disappearance of Eckhardt, the lazy prince. Eckhardt is not quite cooperating with being saved and is at the last moment captured by the minions of Mister B. Meanwhile in Mindolum, Archimedes is losing his grip on power. His malicious wife is now in control. Emmon therefore decides not to go back to the capital city but instead to independently continue his research. Examination of the enchanted Grimwald, where traditionally many princes lived, shows that here too princes are disappearing. Emmon continuously fails to guide the princes to safety in time. Mister B. and Alice are only still looking for the Tripp, the Frog prince, since the small frog is hard to find. After a lot of trouble, Emmon eventually succeeds in tracking down prince Tripp, and, with the help of princess Olivia, turns him back into a human. He also gathers some musicians and other allies to set up an rebel camp. Emmon now concentrates on the improvement of his musical skills, before he can face the bad guys. This brings him to far corners of the world. While Emmon is working on his musicianship to become the Master of Sound, the resistance against Mister B. and Alice collapses. The villains succeed in composing their ensemble and are getting ready to perform the Dragon Ballad in the Festival Grounds. Emmon applies all his knowledge and skills to write, together with Father Armadal, a counter-ballad. Mister B. and the evil queen show their Dragon Ballad to the world and summon the dragons. While the first dragons arrive and angrily start inflicting damage on the city, Emmon first eliminates Mister B. and then vividly starts performing his counter ballad. The dragons flee in disarray. Extensive account of the Main Story A failed career The game starts with Emmon's first performance at the royal court. It is supposed to be the launch of his career as successor to his father Bart, who is currently employed as the official court bard. Instead Emmon's concert turns out to be a musical disaster, after the royal court flees the performance hall in disarray. The disgruntled king Archimedes I makes clear that Emmon should immediately renounce any plans for a further musical career. Emmon is deeply ashamed, while Bart is sad and disappointed. In service of the king Finding Dean's Music The king is still offended by Emmon's poignant singing. However, with Bart being a good personal friend of the king, Emmon gets a chance to mend his royal stance. Soon the 200th Festival of the Singing Dragon will commence. Standing on the Festival Grounds, Archimedes explains to our hero that can make up with him if he fulfils for him a personal quest. The king tells Emmon that for the special occasion Alice, the queen, is determined to set up a performance (of what will turn out to be the Dragon Ballad). However, arranging to get all the musicians of the ensemble together turns out to be quite a challenge. It is up to Emmon to check if clarinet player Dean Threshold is properly practising his important part. He should have received his clarinet sheet music from the postman, but in the past there have been some problems regarding Dean and his mailbox. Emmon leaves the Festival Grounds and heads for the Eastern Quarter. When he arrives at the home of Dean Threshold the clarinettist refuses to open the door. Moreover, he denies to have received any sheet music, and to play clarinet or whatever musical instrument in the first place. In the end (thanks to the clever dialogue Emmon engages with him), it becomes clear that Dean has traded his clarinet music with Koby Salaris, the magician, who has given him a Potion of Attractiveness in return. Koby, who luckily lives close, turns out to be an passionate amateur musician. When Emmon visits his alchemist shop Koby is just practising Dean's clarinet part on his sub-counter-bass-flute. In order to retrieve the clarinet music, Emmon gives the sorcerer sheet music of another piece. He can get this part by buying it from the Mindolum Book store, or by borrowing (while not ever giving it back) from the Mindolum Library. Arranging glasses for the glass harmonium Emmon successfully completed his first assignment and goes to see Archimedes at the Festival Grounds. The king is content, but is not finished with our hero. Emmon now is sent with instructions to recruit Simon Hearst, the well-known organist, for the ensemble. Because Simon lives in Mindolum this doesn't seem to be that much of a challenge. However, Simon's glass harmonium is a gigantic machine that cannot possibly be dragged to the (outside) location of the performance. Therefore Emmon and Simon together start building a smaller scale version of the instrument. Simon, being the organist, informs Emmon about his beloved instrument. This way Emmon also learns about the Canon-organs, with which he can quickly travel through the country. Simon also explains what should happen to build a small scale glass harmonium that can be deployed on the Festival Grounds. Emmon mainly participates by collecting the glasses for the glass harmonium. With this instruments, tones are made by rubbing over the glass. The smaller the glass, the higher the pitch. This means that in order to be able to perform the Dragon Ballad, Simon needs glasses of different sizes. Emmon gathers the glasses from all kinds of places. By now the player not only can wander around the Eastern Quarter, he can also visit the Petty Grounds to solve his quest. This means that here are a lot of places to search for glasses. To make his glass hunt a bit easier, there are in total more glasses to collect than the player needs for the glass harmonium. This way Emmon does not have to find every single hidden glass harmonium glass. In the meantime, Emmon of course has the possibility to solve many side quests that are waiting for him in the accessible areas. Birga Yam - Getting a Proof of Awareness After the successful construction of the substitute mini glass organ, Emmon returns to the king. This time, he doesn't find him at the festival grounds and so Emmon goes to the royal palace at The Pivot, which is now accessible for our hero. He receives his third official quest to complete the ensemble for the Festival performance. This time he has to bring back Birga Yam, the timpani player. Because she is residing in Nailbore Rock, Emmon must prepare himself for a lengthy journey. Our hero's first task is to figure out how to reach the northern city of Nailbore Rock. As the overgrown road over land has gone out of use, and has been declared "dangerous", Emmon is advised to use the airship to Punnett's Granary. From there he can continue his journey to Nailbore Rock. Unfortunately Emmon has some trouble to get into the zeppelin. Before he can join the flight he needs a Proof of Awareness, a declaration in which the hero acknowledges he is aware of the possible risks of the trip. (NOTE: this proof of awareness is a mechanism to check if the player advanced sufficiently in the game to get to this next part. One of the requirements is that the player has done some fighting in the Petty Grounds, and not new is with this side of the game. The check should make sure that the stats of the player did not get out of balance.) Disappearance of Percy -Percy, heir to the throne disappears. The king panics. -He calls upon Emmon to investigate the situation. Emmon finds out that there is a plot to kidnap the other son of the king as well. To Fun Haven Island -Emmon has to try to save Eckhardt, the lazy prince, on Fun Haven Island, before he gets kidnapped. However it is hard to get to him, Fun Haven Island being VIP. -The lazy prince is stolen away by Mister B.'s minions. Emmon finds out about Mister B.'s plan with the dragons (at this point?) -Emmon has a confrontation with Mister B. and tries to warn him for the consequences of the Dragon Ballad performance. Of course, Mister B. is not impressed. He easily beats the young bard and leaves the island with his airship. -Back in Mindolum, Emmon fails to convince the desperate king of the ongoing evil plan. While the king enters a state of delirium, his wife Alice takes matters into her own hands. Feeling his unwantedness, Emmon feels he has to leave the palace and has to take action himself. With this turning point in the story, one could argue his serious quests begins. Visit to the Grimwald -Emmon explores Grimwald. Here princes disappeared as well. -Emmon tries to find and safe the remaining musicians before Alice and Mister B do. -Emmon is able to contact (crystal boll?) the imprisoned musicians in the Maison B. He follows the trail of the Frog Prince Training the Pig -Emmon wants to turn the Frog Prince back into a human. Therefore the prince has to kiss a princess. Emmon tries to tutor Olivia, the Pig, to become a worthy princess. She mean girl will lose weight and learn to be a nicer person. After some difficult moments of resistance, a new, unrecognisably nicer Olivia is born. The Rebels -Emmon, Bart, Father Armadal, Tripp and other allies try to form a rebel group to challenge the villains. -Emmon goes on adventure to become the Master of Sound -Mister B. and Alice dismantle the rebel movement. The bad guys now have completed their Ensemble of the Princes. Performance of the Dragon Ballad and the Counter Ballad -Emmon comes back and notices his friends gone. Meanwhile the bad guys have started to set up the stage for the big concert. Emmon recognises that the concert has become inevitable. He uses all his bard knowledge to write an alternative Ballad. -While Emmon writes the last notes of his counter-ballad, the Ensemble of the Princes starts the performance of the Dragon Ballad. Emmon has trouble to reach the performance, while the ensemble finishes the first parts of the ballad. Finale -The first Dragons start to arrive, while the ensemble keeps performing. Emmon fights Mister B. and the Evil Queen while around them hell breaks loose. Emmon and the Ensemble of the Princes perform the Alternative Ballad to chase away the dragons. Category:Quests